Artist:
N.C. Wyeth
(American, 1882 - 1945)
Wild Bill Hickok, composition drawing
Medium: Graphite and charcoal on paper
Date: 1944 / 1945
Dimensions:
28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)
Courtesy of the Adams Museum, Deadwood, South Dakota
Accession number: SUPP2000.1222
Research Number: NCW: 1222
InscribedLower right: N. C. W. / N. C. W.
ProvenanceJohn Morrell & Company, Ottumwa, Iowa
References
Mildred Fielder, Wild Bill and Deadwood (Seattle, WA: Superior Publishing Co., 1965), illustration p. 50
Curatorial RemarksThis drawing was proposed to Morrell & Company as an illustration for a calendar set Wyeth titled in his correspondence "Swashbucklers in American History" (NCW to Henriette Wyeht Hurd, 12/17/44, WFA). The Wyeth Family Archives includes a rough draft of Wyeth's proposal, particularly mentioning this drawing as an example of the type of picture he had in mind. ("When you look at my sketch of Wild Bill Hickock, one experiences to a considerable degree the actual sensation of how it must have felt to face Wild Bill at a critical moment. This I believe is the first time such a situation has been tried in painting.") The proposal was not accepted and no paintings were done. NCW 2128 is a preliminary sketch for this composition.
No records at the Adams Museum record the year the drawing entered the collection, and records at Morrell & Company were destroyed in a fire in 1980. A circa 1970 photograph in the collection of the Adams Museum, however, showing the drawing in an earlier frame, reveals a plaque on the frame that read "Gift of John Morrell & Company". The Adams Museum has made prints of the drawing.
No records at the Adams Museum record the year the drawing entered the collection, and records at Morrell & Company were destroyed in a fire in 1980. A circa 1970 photograph in the collection of the Adams Museum, however, showing the drawing in an earlier frame, reveals a plaque on the frame that read "Gift of John Morrell & Company". The Adams Museum has made prints of the drawing.
Image Source for printed Catalogue Raisonne:photography directly from art work
Photo Credit:none given